


Burning

by WingedChickadee



Series: Ten's Adventures of Misfortune (and maybe some not so bad adventures) [2]
Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Burning, Death, bodies, graphic depictions of death
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-04
Updated: 2018-01-04
Packaged: 2019-02-28 08:18:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13267428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WingedChickadee/pseuds/WingedChickadee
Summary: Without the Light, the Guardians are normal people. Ten learns this the hard way as their town, Noc, is overrun with Fallen. Everything around them burns.





	Burning

Everything was on fire. The Fallen has grown even more bold with the Red Legion in the other regions. The stench of burning flesh and metal permeates through the air. Screams piece through the chattering of the Fallen, and gun shots ring through the air.

The towns leader of defense Malar is yelling at all the civilians to get to the bunkers, that the Fallen had breached the wall. To run and hide, to not fight them anymore. The soldiers and guardians in the town are trying to protect the civilians, but they were getting cut down.

Ten finds themself running through the streets with a group of civilians, and three other of their guardians. Their hand cannon in their hand, firing as fast as possible. Wishing they could reload just those few seconds faster as the Fallen get closer.

Boom, boom, boom, goes their weapon as they aim at the Fallen. Their wrist begins to hurt as they aim at different angles to hit as many of the enemies as possible. Two of the other guardians are firing their hand cannons also, and the last is shooting a rifle.

“HELP!” A voice cries out loudly from a burning building, Dregs creeping into it.

Ten pauses and stares at the building, their chest constricting. They need to save that person, but a hand is tugging on their arm. They are frozen as they stare at the building, heart pounding.

“Ten! We need to get them to the bunker, we have no light we can’t-“

Ten’s breath hitches more as the person screams louder in the building, then goes silent. They feel sick. People have died before but they never stood and watched. They never...

The hunter grabs their arm more and drags them away forcefully, and they partly come back into the reality around them. They need to save the people around them. They need to save everyone...but they can’t. They can’t do anything, they-

Pain. There is a burning pain on their arm and instinctually they jam their knife into whatever cut their arm. A Dreg. Their is the sound of something crunching and they twist the knife, then take it out. The Dreg falls to the ground and they snap fully into the situation. Fire, death, pain. Rinse and repeat.

The civilians reach the bunker, and run in. Ten and the three Guardians stand out side of it, ready to defend the people as they head inside. Everyone points their weapons towards the fires, towards the screams of civilians who can’t escape the enemy. Ten yearns to sprint out and save them, but they are too far and they hope other defenders of the town can reach them. They hope.

Another scream pierces the air close by and Ten sees a child being cornered by three Wretches. It is not some distant friend in need of saving, this is a child Ten knows well. So this time they do not hesitate. They need, no, they have to save this person.

Devish, one of the hunters, yell after them. “Ten! No!”

The fact of no light slips their mind. They need to save this child, they need to do their job. Their mind is yelling at them to turn around, to stop. One of the Wretches raises their shock spear to strike the little girl, and Ten slides underneath the legs of it. Their knife digging into the joint of its leg, twisting and pulling as they slide.

The Wretch falls and Ten grabs the spear, ripping it from their hands. The two of Wretches chitters and turn to Ten; who at the moment stabs the Wretch in the head, killing it. Ten dodges one spear attack and knifes one Wretch, then spears the other. It is over in a few seconds.

Ten bends down to pick the child up and turns back to the bunker, their blood running cold. The three Guardians are surrounded with Fallen and Ten moves to help. But the child next to them starts crying. Once again they are frozen, and watch as they Guardians fall.

There is a shimmer and in the blink of an eye Devish is impaled from behind on the edge of a blade. He crumples forward and his fellow hunter cries out, in fear and in anguish. The child’s own cries rise to match the volume of the cacophony of sounds. Ten’s movement forward is halted by more two more Wretches coming towards them and the child. Setting her down, they spin their knife and stand in front of the child.

In the corner of their eye they witness the single Warlock get torn apart by a barrage of bullets. The air is filled with a metallic taste and they feel sick. But they focus on the enemies in front of them.

The Wretches swing their spears at Ten at the same time. They roll under, and jump up quickly. They stab the one Wretch in the head and shoot the other before either can turn around.

“NO!”

A pleading shout draws their eyes and they witness the final Guardian fall to a Dreg over them. He had fallen to the ground, and was trying to crawl away. The Fallen just shot him point blank.

Then they encroach inside the open doors and even more screams fill the air. The scent of blood wafts over to them and Ten covers their mouth. They need to leave, find another bunker and more people. People they can actually protect.

Three of their students are dead, all the civilians inside there are dead. They chose the child over them. So they pick up the child, and run.

They run and run, making sure to keep her quiet. Their mind is racing but all they can think of is survive. More screams surround them as they approach another bunker. Two guardians are there, the last two in the town, and some of the town’s guards. They are starting to get overrun.

A choice. They set the child down and hide them behind some rubble, then they are back into the fray. Stabbing and shooting, fighting to let the people in the bunker live. The child will be safe, she’s hidden. She’ll stay safe. So Ten focuses solely on protecting the people in the bunker.

Time passes fast and at the same time, so so slow. Too soon the all clear horn is sounding and Ten is able to look around. Fires still blaze, but there is a silence. A heavy crushing silence. Their body feels numb as they walk towards where they hid the girl, and find her body. Her tiny body is riddled with bullets, and her eyes are wide in shock and fear. It looks like a scream or final word was cut short.

Bile rises in their throat, and they have to cover their mouth. Ten has seen bodies before, but it was when it was out of their control. They had saved this child, but they left her. They chose her over the civilians they were protecting, and then they left her.

Clean up is horrifying. There are bodies everywhere; some are so mauled or burnt that no one can indenting them. Ten feels nothing but guilt as they help search for lost family members.

The bunker is...it was the only bunker breached and inside is a blood bath. Bodies are everywhere, and the floor is a pool of crimson red. A man stares at it, then stares at Ten, then back at the horrifying mess.

“You were supposed to protect them. I left to go help another part of the city, and I left you and the guardians to protect them.” His voice is full of anger and hurt. “So tell me, why the hell are you still alive?!”

Ten stares at him, and they do not know what to say. How can they admit to wanting to save a singular child, when there was a bunker of people. They thought...they wanted to save everyone. They hoped that they could.

The man moves forward and latches onto their shoulders, shaking them violently as he begins to sob.

“Why didn’t you do your job?!”

Ten raises their hands, surprised to see them shaking. They slowly sign out.  
‘I...I had no light, I couldn’t save them and the child and-‘

“So?! You’re a Guardian, right? Aren’t you supposed to protect people?”

Ten pulls back as the man shakes and sobs harder. His eyes are closed tight. Now is a time when Ten misses their ghost dearly, and wishes Zol was here to be their voice. Ten feels eyes staring at them as people hear the man’s sobs.

“Marcus what’s wrong?” A woman calls out as she runs over to him, pulling him into a hug.

“Th-they could’ve saved him, Ten could’ve saved all of them!”

Ten backs up as more and more people come closer. They have not felt this overwhelmed by people surrounding them, since when they first arrived. They could’ve saved them if they hadn’t saved the child. If they had stayed maybe they couldn’t saved them all and-

“Ten is he right?”

“Did you try?!”

“Why didn’t you save them!”

Ten’s hands shake even more and some of the words don’t come out clearly.  
‘I tried! I wanted save them but couldn’t and surrounded and there was a child and-‘

The group gets closer and closer, surrounding them. The people who died were their friends too, their family. Everyone is yelling at them and things are falling apart.

“Why are you yelling at them?” A booming voice comes from across the way.

Here comes the Titan and hunter, with worried looks on their face. The hunter maneuvers through the crowd while the Titan just pushes through.

The crowd returns to the roar of accusations, of angry words and broken voices.

“We do not have our light! We are just like you, we can die. We cannot throw ourselves into the line of fire and come back,” the Titan calls out, trying to soothe the crowd.

It doesn’t work.

They continue to rage and roar, some breaking down into bitter sobs. The Titan and Hunter walk their teacher from the mob. Ten stares straight ahead, their carefully put together puzzle pieces crashing all around them. Any attempts to pull it together fail and just fall again.

They make it too their house as a light snow begins. Usually it would be beautiful, peaceful. Now it is just a physical reminder of how cold the world is. Ten waits until the evening when they know everyone is asleep. They need to do something, something very important to them.

They clutch their cloak tightly along with their rifle, and head out to the woods. Light or no light, they need to...they need to talk to Him. Ten needs His advice...

The light snowfall makes the dark woods peaceful and even more terrifying than usual. The only sound is Ten’s breathing, and the crunching of snow under their feet. Soon they find themself in a small clearing, and are kneeling in front of a piece of stone on the ground. They brush the snow away. There is no name or anything written on it.

Ten places their hand on it, tears welling in their eyes. What would He do in this scenario? What would he have done..? Ten’s free hand grips their cloak tighter and they feel physically in pain. It’s been so long, and they still seek out his advice. They...they...

Their hands begin moving, slowly at first but then they become more and more frantic.

‘Ter, I need some advice. I really do. I miss you and I just I don’t know what to do. I’m supposed to protect them. Not just a few of them, but all of them. I’ve failed. I failed and so many people died. My students, innocent people...Ter why can’t you come back? Why did that stupid machine in the Sky not pick you too?!’

Ten begins to sob, piercing the still air with their cries. Their hands move in a way that no one seeing would understand. The sobs grow louder and more guttural.

‘You would have been able to save that man, you would have known how to save that girl and the guardians and the people in the bunker. I can’t...I don’t know what to do. I..’

Their hands stop and they curl in on themself, wrapping the cloak around them as much as possible. They don’t know how to do their job anymore.

They don’t know how to be a Guardian, anymore.


End file.
